Keepin' the Summer Alive: Difference between revisions

'''''Keepin' the Summer Alive''''' is the twenty-fourth24th [[studio album]] by American [[Rock music|rock]] band [[the Beach Boys]], released March 24, 1980, on [[Brother Records|Brother]], [[Caribou Records|Caribou]] and [[CBS Records International|CBS Records]]. Produced by [[Bruce Johnston]], the album peaked at number 75 in the US, during a chart stay of 6 weeks,<ref name="liner" /> and number 54 in the UK. It is the group's last album recorded with [[Dennis Wilson]], who drowned in 1983, although he only appears on one song.

After the band's previous album, ''[[L.A. (Light Album)]]'' (1979), failed to live up to commercial expectations, the executives at [[CBS Records International|CBS]] expected another album as soon as possible.<ref name="Gaines">{{cite book|last=Gaines|first=Steven|author-link=Steven Gaines|title=Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qkJvajmU4EC|year=1986|publisher=Da Capo Press|location=New York|isbn=0306806479|page=337}}</ref> In July 1979, the Beach Boys convened at [[United Western Recorders|Western Studio]] in Los Angeles—the studio where most of the band's 1960s material had been produced by [[Brian Wilson]]—to begin work on a new studio album. The album was also recorded at various other studios, including former backing band member [[Daryl Dragon]]'s Rumbo Recorders in [[San Fernando, California|San Fernando]], and [[Al Jardine]]'s recording studio in his [[Big Sur Village, California|Big Sur]] barn. Working titles included ''Cousins, Friends and Brothers'', and ''Can't Wait Till Summer''.<ref name="liner" />

The group wanted Brian to return as their producer and felt that he would be more comfortable recording at the familiar studio environment of Western. They were briefly successful, as [[Carl Wilson]] said, "Brian got hot for about three days in the studio. He was singing like a bird. All the protection he usually runs just dropped; he came out of himself, he was right there in the room."<ref name="Gaines"/> {{citation span|text=[[Dennis Wilson]], at odds with the rest of the group, abandoned the initial recording sessions, taking no further part in the album. {{citation span|text=The sessions were also stalled by Brian's desire to record only cover songs of [[rock n' roll]] tracks.|date=June 2010}} One of these, [[Chuck Berry]]'s "School Days", appears on the album's final track listing.<ref name="liner" />

| rev3 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''

| rev4 = ''[[MusicHound]]''

| rev4score = {{rating|2/|5}}<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Graff|editor-first1=Gary|editor-last2=Durchholz|editor-first2=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/84 84]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/84}}</ref>

| rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide]]''

| rev5score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref name="marsh">{{cite book |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=with Hoard |editor2-first=Christian |year=2004 |title=(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide |edition=4th |location=New York, NY |publisher=Fireside/Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/46 46] |url=https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/46 }}</ref>

In a retrospective review for [[AllMusic]], Rob Theakston referred to ''Keepin' the Summer Alive'' as "the low point" in the band's discography: "Ripe with mindless throwaways and lifeless filler ... The two exceptions to the rule reside in the title track and the closing 'Endless Harmony.'"<ref name="am"/> In ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide|(The New) Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' (2004), the album is cited as an "abysmal" entry in "a string of inconsequential records" that had not abated since 1978's ''[[M.I.U. Album]]''.<ref name="marsh"/>

| headline = Side one

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| title1 = Keepin' the Summer Alive

| writer1 = [[Carl Wilson]], [[Randy Bachman]]

| extra1 = [[Carl Wilson]]

| length1 = 3:43

| title2 = Oh Darlin{{'-}}

| writer2 = [[Brian Wilson]], [[Mike Love]]

| extra2 = C. Wilson and [[Mike Love]]

| length2 = 3:52

| title3 = Some of Your Love

| writer3 = B. Wilson, Love

| extra3 = Love and C. Wilson

| length3 = 2:36

| title4 = [[Livin' with a Heartache]]

| writer4 = C. Wilson, Bachman

| extra4 = C. Wilson

| length4 = 4:06

| title5 = [[School Days (Chuck Berry song)|School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)]]

| writer5 = [[Chuck Berry]]

| extra5 = [[Al Jardine]]

| length5 = 2:52

| headline = Side two

| extra_column = Lead vocals

| title1 = [[Goin' On]]

| writer1 = B. Wilson, Love

| extra1 = Love, C. Wilson and [[Brian Wilson]]

| length1 = 3:00

| title2 = Sunshine

| writer2 = B. Wilson, Love

| extra2 = Love, B. Wilson and C. Wilson

| length2 = 2:52

| title3 = When Girls Get Together

| writer3 = B. Wilson, Love

| extra3 = Love and B. Wilson

| length3 = 3:31

| title4 = Santa Ana Winds

| writer4 = B. Wilson, [[Al Jardine]]

| extra4 = Jardine, Love and C. Wilson

| length4 = 3:14

| title5 = Endless Harmony

| writer5 = [[Bruce Johnston]]

| extra5 = [[Bruce Johnston]] and C. Wilson

| length5 = 3:10

| total_length = 33:10

Adapted from 2000 liner notes<ref name=liner>{{cite AV media notes |title=Keepin’ the Summer Alive/The Beach Boys|others=[[The Beach Boys]] |year=2000 |first=Randy |last=Bachman |author-link1= Randy Bachman |last2=Doe |first2=Andrew |author-link2=Andrew Doe |page=2 |type=booklet |url=http://albumlinernotes.com/KTSA___Beach_Boys_85.html|publisher=[[Capitol Records]] |location=California}}</ref> and Craig Slowinski.<ref name="Slowinski2020">{{cite magazine |last=Slowinski|first=Craig |date=Summer 2020 |title=Keepin’Keepin' the Summer Alive: 40th Anniversary Collector’sCollector's Edition|issue=132|volume=33|magazine=Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine |location=Charlotte, North Carolina|editor-first=David|editor-last=Beard}}</ref>

*[[Jim Horn]] – baritone saxophone on “When Girls Get Together”